An interact Exchange Point (IXP) is a physical infrastructure through which Internet Service Providers (ISPs), Content Delivery Networks (CDNs) and Enterprise networks exchange traffic between their autonomous systems networks. The primary purpose of the IXP is to allow autonomous system networks to interconnect directly, via the IXP, rather than through one or more third-party networks. The advantages of the direct interconnection are numerous, but the primary reasons are improvements in cost savings, latency, and bandwidth.
In traditional IXPs, the ability to exchange network traffic is only locally considered by using a physical interface on the fabric network switch or router. The drawback to this is the inability to connect other networks that are not physically located on the same IXP fabric or subsequently within the same physical location.
A typical IXP includes one or more Ethernet-based local area network (LAN) switches housed in a single location or metropolitan area. The IXP operates in a layer-2 configuration and utilizes a single IP subnet for participating autonomous systems connections. It is these very design choices that made the traditional IXPs successful, however, they are very centralized in their uses or applications.
It is, therefore, desirable to provide a novel method and apparatus for a distributed Internet architecture.